I should mention right off the bat that I haven’t heard any buzz around Don Coscarelli considering a film of “The Book Is Full Of Spiders,” the sequel to “John Dies At The End,” though I hope that he’s at least considering it.
Though for better or for worse, it all comes down to money.
And speaking of ‘Spiders,’ it reintroduces John and Dave, the (occasionally) intrepid duo from the first film. With David Wong’s first book, which I enjoyed, I was always cognizant that no matter how starnge things got, everything would be alright.
Now, not so much.
Like the first novel – where John doesn’t die – there are actually no spiders in “This Book Is Full Of Spiders.” That would be too easy. Like in ‘John Dies At The End” they have to deal with is another invasion (of sorts) of our reality, a plot device somewhat similar to that in the first book.
Though the invaders are significantly more ambitious than before, and are willing to do what it takes to get ahead.
I have been waiting for Alfonso Cuarón‘s “Gravity” for awhile, and it’s getting closer. In my mind Cuarón is in the same class as Guillermo Del Toro, which is another way of saying that if either of them comes out with a film, go see it.
Besides, his last film, “Children Of Men” was not only brilliant, but also significantly better than the book – in terms of impact and sense of gravity (pardon the pun) – in my opinion.
I don’t particularly care for Sandra Bullock or George Clooney – I don’t feel ill will toward either of them, though they don’t move me either.
But put Alfonso Cuarón at the helm, then I am there.
Gavin Hood gets a bad rap. The South African director made “Totsi” in 2005, which he won an Academy Award for. His biggest film – in terms of budget – was “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which didn’t get any Oscars.
Mainly because it was pretty bad.
Though can you blame him for that? He didn’t write it, which is where all the problems began.
Hood also worked on A&E’s “Breakout Kings,” which was pretty decent TV.
By the way, isn’t Ben Kingsley in just about every other movie lately?
“Iron Man 3″ Is The Superhero Film Quentin Tarantino Would Direct, If He Had Directed A Superhero Film”
The biggest problem I had with with Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man 2″ was that the filmmakers decided to pit Iron Man against another armored character, just like in the first film (though there was also the way that they turned Justin Hammer into a Tony Stark wannabe, when in the comics he was far more threatening and a much better foil to Stark).
Shane Black seemed to learn from their mistake, because other than Iron Man himself and War Machine – now known as Iron Patriot – there are no other armored characters in the film.
What struck me as odd about the film is that it plays more like something by Quentin Tarantino, in that you get what feels like tons of dialog, with a few set pieces strategically placed to remind you why you’re there in the first place.
I assume that this footage for Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is from the last Comic-con. It shows the most detail of the robots yet, as well as a bit of character development.
And I can’t see why Michael Bay would ever be worried by ‘Rim,’ after all, if the trailers are to be believed, it looks much better than any of his Transformers films.
Sorry about the odd spacing issues. I have been working with an app that publishes to WordPress called Metropolis, which seems to be doing funky things with my spacing.
“”Oblivion” Is A Beautiful Film, Though Muddled Storytelling Almost Scuttle It.”
When critics criticized Joseph Kosinski’s “Oblivion” for the ideas it borrows from other (often better) films, they weren’t kidding. Some instances fall more in the area of homage than outright theft, though there are moments, particularly the last half hour or so, that are so blatantly lifted from “The Matrix” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” that residuals should be paid to Lena and Larry Warschowski and Robert Wise.
In fact, during the sequence in question I – honestly – was waiting for V’Ger to turn up.
I have to admit that, while I had heard of Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games Trilogy prior to the movie coming out, I didn’t expect it to make much of a splash.
My bias stemmed less from the fact that her books are directed primarily at young adults – John Christopher’s ‘The White Mountains’ trilogy are as well, and remain among the best novels, nevermind the audience they were primarly directed at, I have ever read – but I also expected that it was in the vein (pardon the pun) of the ‘Twilight’ movies, which I might see if someone threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t (and even then I would still have to think about it for a moment or two).
I thought that Gary Ross did OK with the first film, though it felt that he almost had a disdain for the more technologically-inclined aspects of the story (though I should add that I liked his work enough that I purchased the first book in the trilogy). Ross didn’t return for ‘Catching Fire,’ so the sequel is being directed by Francis Lawrence, a director that is almost the opposite of Gary Ross in that he sometimes appears too enamored of technology, particularly CGI.
‘Why Guillermo Del Toro Is Awesome’ Or ‘There There Will Probably Be An ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ Feature
image courtesy of IMDb
Guillermo Del Toro rocks. Why, you ask? Sure, it has more than a little to do with him being the director of “Hellboy,” “Hellboy 2,” “Blade 2,” The Devil’s Backbone,” Pan’s Labyrinth, among others.
It also has to do with tenaciousness, and following your dreams, no matter how bleak things may seem (it also never hurts to do the right sacrifices, at the right time.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!).
As I posted a few months ago, Universal abandoned Del Toro’s passion project, a movie based upon H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness,” a part of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos (an interconnected series of stories that revolve around a common thematic element: horrific alien beings intent upon reclaiming the earth and oftentimes subverting everything that makes us human).
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